Silver Warriors Wings
by uzai sagi
Summary: A hundreds after the events of RWBY, Mistral continues to love in the darkness, despite building itself back up. Now a new evil threatens the land. However, a silver eyed warrior just might make the lands shine bright once again. A SYOC story that is on AvisB's forum RWBY Collaboration! /forum/A-War-That-Never-Changed-RWBY-Collab/200682/
1. Prologue

**hey all! I'm back! I know I said I wouldn't do another story, but I'm doing a collaboration with my friends and I couldn't resist! Don't worry, I'm still working on the other stories and those chapters are almost done! I got delayed by life!**

* * *

 _ **Prologue- Birth of the Silver Eyes**_

A hundred years ago, the world of Remnant fell into despair after the event known as "The Fall of Beacon". The four kingdoms: Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas; once strong and proud; had been shattered into pieces. Their bonds were broken by those who served the darkness, however each of the kingdoms had its own demons within them.

The inner conflict in Atlas of hierarchy has slowly been draining her bit by bit, the same in Vacuo as the increase of the Faunus population caused more problems than she would've liked, and Vale is still struggling to bring herself back up from the disaster a hundred years ago.

Mistral, however has suffered more discrimination after discovering Lionheart's association with Salem's Faction. Since then, Mistral was deemed untrustworthy and Haven Academy was close to being empty after most of it's students left, not wanting to be in a school that was full of "traitors".

However, after a few decades, a new headmistress came and promised to bring Haven back from its state of depressing emptiness. The school was slowly being filled back up, and eventually, Mistral was brought back to her former glory bit by bit. Any underground organization that was in hiding was found and disposed of that very second.

Then came the official birth of Oniyuri…

Tired of Mistral always falling into darkness, those who wanted nothing to do with that kingdom decided to go and finally finish building the very village with its own laws, nothing to keep them tied down. People rejoiced once the village was finally built, and over time more people started to come and they made it bigger, the size of a single city, and even made their very own traditions. Every citizen that turns sixteen is allowed to travel the world on their own, to see if they can learn the world of Remnant and bring their village hope of becoming its very own kingdom. However, it has never gotten to that point.

Then there was the silver eyed warriors. The eldest warriors known throughout all of Remnant, yet the last time Mistral had seen one was over a hundred years ago. People said that the silver eyes had faded into legends, never to grace the lands of Mistral again.

Until sixteen years ago…

* * *

"Okay, everyone ready?" A man in a dark robe said. "On the count of three…"

" _It's your sixteenth year_

 _On the day of your birth_

 _It's time to go off_

 _And show the world what you're worth_

 _May your ancestors smile down_

 _And bring you great joy_

 _Your people will love you_

 _Young maiden or boy"_

The people sang the traditional sixteenth birthday song, as a way of bidding the young maiden before them farewell. She had long hair in a lazy ponytail, the front bangs and strands framing her face, it's colors being dusk blue from top all the way to dawn red at the ends being connected by violet.

For clothes, she wore a black strapless crop top with matching capris underneath a tunic like robe that only had the right sleeve, it's colors being red and blue with purple designs. Her emblem, a sun and moon morphed together, was located at her right hip. Cream leg warmers hugged her lower legs and covered most of her magenta boots. Her outfit really complimented her voluptuous figure, her breasts being very large and she had curves that made any boy's dream come true.

What really made her stand out the most was her eyes. The color of her eyes was pure silver, one of the rarest colors in Remnant, and one that Mistral has never seen in a hundred years. She gave a happy yet nervous smile as she played with the two black wristbands on her wrists and then took a deep breath. After that, she blew out the candles on the giant cake before her, the winds blowing a few people away.

Everyone laughed as a piece of the cake was soon cut.

"Here, dearie," an old woman said. "Take a piece for the road."

The girl nodded happily as she took the plate with her large piece of cake.

This girl was Reimei Niijima. She had just turned sixteen, and as tradition in Oniyuri, she was at the age to go travel the world on her own to find herself. She carefully wrapped up the cake before she grabbed up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Be sure to write back to us, Rei," a young man, about a year older than she was, said as he held her close.

Rei, as she preferred to be called, hugged back with a smile. "I will, promise!"

"Oi! Don't forget about these!" The city blacksmith said as he held a giant case. "Extra retractable blades! In case you run out too quickly, be sure to give me a call!"

The girl took the giant case with a smile. "Thank you!" She then turned to the village elder, who smiled down at her before hugging her.

"Make us proud, Reimei," he whispered. "We all love you no matter what…"

Rei hugged back tightly. "I will... I love you…"

With the last few goodbyes, Reimei waved to her people as they expressed their own goodbyes and telling her that they would miss her.

"I'll be back soon! And when I do, I'm coming back a warrior you can all be proud of!"

With those declarations out of the way, and her final goodbyes were said, Rei turned forward and started on her journey.

Reimei was born in her proud village of Oniyuri. Her parents were named Akatsuki, her father, and Tosogayo, her mother. They were proud warriors of Oniyuri, and were very noble in the laws and morals their village had. When Reimei was born, they were astonished to see that their child had been born with silver eyes, as neither of her parents had silver eyes themselves.

However, they believed that she would be able to do great things when she reached adulthood someday, so they did their very best to keep her protected. Then one day, her parents went off on a mission, leaving her in the care of the village elder, Nisshoku. Days turned to months since they left, and when it came down to a full year, they were confirmed to have died when a huntsman arrived and told Nisshoku of Akatsuki and Tosogayo's fate.

The elder was heartbroken, knowing that Reimei no longer had parents to be proud of or who would come back to her, or she would be able to come back to once she was grown up. He did his best to raise her, and taught her the differences between right and wrong. He was amazed in how understanding she was of the cruelty that mankind shamefully possessed when he started teaching her these things when she turned five.

Despite the initial surprise, he was happy knowing that she was a fast learner. Then it came to her unnatural strength and speed, as she is able to get started and finish chores with ease and even help with carpenters in lifting heavy objects. The warriors of their village began to see that she possessed more talent in combat than most of the other children her age, so when she was ten, they started training her at the village dojo.

She was the best out of all of the students in the dojo, and people knew she would grow up to become a proud warrior. Nisshoku wanted her to train extra hard for this. Now that she was sixteen, she was free to explore the world of Remnant to find her place.

Reimei looked up at the sky with a smile.

' _Today is going to be a new time for me. I'm going to make my village a kingdom. I believe it!'_

After a few hours of walking, Rei soon came across the next town and she saw that it was getting rather dark. Her stomach growled as she hadn't had anything to eat yet, wanting to save her birthday cake for later.

"Well, I guess I better go ahead and rest in this town for a bit," she mumbled to herself as she looked into her bag to make sure that she had enough money for a place to stay. When she found that she did, she gave a nod before entering the town.

She was able to rent a room in the most comfortable inn that the village had, and once that was paid for, she sat on the bed and enjoyed her birthday cake with a smile. Rei looked out the window as she had her cake, already feeling a bit homesick. She didn't know if she wanted to leave Oniyuri at first, because she grew up there. However, when the elder told her of the many stories of heroes, it inspired her to want to travel and become someone everyone could be proud of.

"It's just the first step," she said to herself as she stared up at the stars.

Her train of thought was soon cut off when she started to hear screaming out in the open. This made Rei react quickly on instinct because she had shoved the rest of her cake in her mouth and swallowed it whole before grabbing her guns and leaping out of the window.

After landing on the ground, she sprinted forward and rushed to the sound of the screams. She looked around before she spotted a bandit cloaked in black running across the roof. She grit her teeth before speeding up to him and leaping off of one of the boxes that came across her path. She lifted her leg as the wind swirled around her right foot before she kicked the bandit, sending flying into another bandit across the village.

"What the?"

A gunfire was heard and a bandits feet were frozen. In the blink of an eye, a strange teenager, aka Rei, leaped up from behind one of the buildings and knocked a bandit off his feet. Rei was quick to disarm another and throw him into the wall, knocking him out.

"You!" She started as she knocked down a bandit. "Shouldn't!" She kicked another. "Be!" She blocked a punch. "Raiding!" She kicked her attacker on the crotch and threw him on the ground. "Villages!"

Rei yelped as she barely dodged an arrow that passed her head. She looked to see that these bandits had an archer and he shot another arrow, only for him to miss as she ran towards him to take his bow and hit him in the face with it.

The people that were hiding for safety watched Rei fight off the bandits in awe, along with a young woman with dark purple hair tied in a low ponytail by a white ribbon, crystal blue eyes, and pale skin; wearing a purple kimono with lavender designs and holding a bamboo cane.

Her eyes watched Rei's movements carefully as the teen fought off the bandits, taking in every detail of her skills. Unlike the villagers, this woman was calm when the bandits arrived, and she became fascinated when the girl came to stop these bandits from raiding this village.

Once Rei was finished with the last one, they heard a whistle and the bandits fled the village.

"You won't get away with this, you damn brat!" they called. "We'll get our revenge!" With that, they were gone.

Rei gave a sigh of relief before turning to one of the village's women, who approached her with a child by her side.

"You're amazing!" the child said in glee.

"You saved our village, Miss," the woman said. "All of us are in your debt."

Rei blushed in embarrassment and waved her hands. "Oh! I-it's no big deal!" she stuttered. "I just didn't want to sit there while those bandits took things and hurt people!"

"Please, come inside my restaurant," the chef of a restaurant insisted. "As a way of thanking you for saving us."

Rei became even more flustered by this. "Ah! No! You don't have to do that! I-I just wanted to help!"

"Then would you mind just dining while having a talk with me," a voice behind her said.

The teen turned to the source and gasped in shock at the sight of the woman who observed her. "Y-You're Kaguya Sekai!" she said in shock. "The headmistress of Haven Academy!"

Kaguya smiled. "Ah, I'm honored that you know who I am," she said casually.

"W-Well, who doesn't know about you!" the teen stuttered. "I mean, um, uh… Sorry, I totally sounded rude…"

"No need for apologies," Kaguya assured before looking at the chef. "Please, set us a table. There's something I need to discuss with this girl."

The chef nodded as the mayor of the village expressed his thanks to an even more embarrassed Rei while he led the two women inside to have a table set for them. Kaguya simply chuckled at the girl before sitting down, the teen taking a seat in front of the famous headmistress.

"Tell me, what is your name?" Kaguya asked.

"Reimei Niijima, ma'am," Rei answered. "I come from Oniyuri."

"I see," the headmistress mused. "The independent village that goes by it's own laws. Very interesting. How old are you?"

"I just turned sixteen today!" the girl said, happily.

"And you're traveling alone, as it is your people's tradition?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Kaguya studied Reimei a little further before she noticed something astonishing. Rei's eyes. "Silver eyes," she mumbled. "There hasn't been anyone in Mistral with silver eyes in over a hundred years…"

"Headmistress Sekai?" the teen asked in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

"Please, Headmistress Kaguya will do just fine," the woman said with a small smile. "Reimei, have you ever heard of the Silver-eyed Warriors?"

"Um, I've only heard stories about them," Rei said honestly. "People in my village know the stories, but I never thought to ask if they were true or not."

Kaguya placed her chin on top of the back of her hands that were folded together. "Well, Reimei Niijima, what if I told you that I could give you the biggest opportunity to attend Haven Academy to become a huntress?"

Rei gasped. "But Headmistress, can you really do that!? I mean, my village isn't on good terms with Mistral!"

"Trust me, Miss Niijima, I wouldn't be offering you this if I wasn't sure," Kaguya said, clearly amused. "Besides, I think we can put this _very_ special gift you have to good use. Plus, if you become a huntress, I'll even help you make Oniyuri a kingdom of Remnant."

The teen gave an excited smile. "You mean it!?"

"I do," Kaguya said with a grin.

Rei hopped up with a gleam of determination. "It's a deal then!"


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1: Welcome to Haven**_

The journey to Mistral felt extremely long, but conversation was the best way to pass the time, albeit Reimei was nervous when she conversed with the headmistress. Kaguya seemed to understand, the young girl was from a rather secluded village, so it was only natural for her to be nervous. Nevertheless, she was impressed that the child kept trying to make conversation.

"So what were you doing at the village, if you don't mind me asking," Reimei asked nervously.

"I was wondering if I could come across a talented student for Haven Academy," Kaguya answered. "I didn't expect to meet you. Did you happen to hear the bandits that raided the village when you arrived?"

"Um, yeah, I heard screaming, and I couldn't just sit in the inn when there was trouble happening," the teen said.

"I must say, the warriors in your village have taught you well in combat," the headmistress said with a smile.

Reimei blushed at that. "A-Ah! Yeah! They taught me all styles of martial arts!"

Kaguya chuckled before looking outside of the carriage they were traveling in. "Ah, we have arrived," she said.

The silver eyed girl peeked out and gaped in awe at the scenery. "Wow!"

The woman smiled as the girl stared out at the city of Mistral. She could tell that this was the first time for Rei to be in such a place like Mistral. When the carriage stopped, the driver came and opened the door for them. Before them stood a man and a woman. The man was tall with slicked back azure hair, a goatee, azure robe, pants and black boots. His dark grey eyes landed on the two and he bowed in greeting.

"Lady Kaguya," he said.

The woman with vermillion hair in a bun that was kept up by a golden bird pin, wearing a vermillion kimono with golden designs, her golden eyes holding warmth as she welcomed Kaguya in the same fashion, bowing down.

"Rei, this is Professor Seiryu, your combat instructor, and Professor Suzaku, your literature teacher," Kaguya informed. "Professors, this is Reimei Niijima, I have recruited her as a new student for Haven Academy."

Seiryu and Suzaku examined a nervous Reimei before they frowned.

"Are you sure, Lady Kaguya?" Suzaku asked. "She looks so young…"

"Yes, she is young," the headmistress said. "However, this girl has a very special gift…"

The professors did further inspection on the girl before understanding why Kaguya said she was special the very moment they saw Reimei's eyes. They looked towards each other before nodding in agreement.

"Lady Kaguya, one of the councilmen has come to discuss something about the politics with the other kingdoms," Seiryu informed.

Kaguya nodded before she looked to the young girl. "Reimei, stay close to the armory shop," she instructed. "I must take care of this matter before we can reach the academy. It shouldn't be long."

Reimei nodded. "Yes, ma'am, I'll stay put!"

The headmistress chuckled before going off with Seiryu and Suzaku, leaving Reimei to go stand by the armory shop as instructed. As she stood next to it, she gazed at the sets of armor in awe. "Wow…" The shop owner chuckled in amusement when sparkles appeared in her silver eyes, like a child discovering a new toy.

Before Reimei could take a further look at the armor, she heard screaming on the far side and looked to see three thugs beating down a poor dog faunus.

"Pests like you need to learn to get out of people's way!" one of them yelled as they kicked him down.

"Hey, we need to head back, or the boss will get angry," another said.

"After this little punk has been taught a lesson!"

The silver eyed girl stared in shock and disbelief at the display, causing the shop owner to sigh. "You'll see a lot of those guys around here," he said. "Just wait for the authorities and it will get- h-hey!" He gaped in shock when the girl ran at the speed of light towards the group. "Kid, what are you doing!?"

The thug held the faunus up with a spiteful grin before raising his fist. Unfortunately, Rei had made it in time to kick him in the face, sending him flying into a stall full of sake. The other two thugs gaped as the man held his swollen cheek.

"What the he-" one of them was cut off as Reimei grabbed his face with a strong and firm grip.

The dog faunus stared up at her in shock when she turned to him. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern as the thug in her hand struggled. "Did they hurt you really bad?"

The thug she kicked recovered with a glare and got up. "You little!" He rushed to punch her. "Now it's a fight!" Reimei was quick to dodge the punch and trip the thug before she threw the other into the third one.

A few feet away from the fight, there had been two people having a conversation as they looked at some goods. One was a male faunus while the other was a female human.

The faunus boy was at least nearly 6 foot tall with a fair skin tone. He had dark red coloured hair that was long enough to make a stub ponytail if he wanted, but he had it let loose and free. His eyes were of an amber colour, and two red wolf ears that were on top of his head. He wore a flowing Persian orange colour trench coat that has been weathered quite a bit. Under the trench coat he wore a tight dark grey shirt, a pair of merlot red pants that are slightly loose which are held up by a black belt, with dark grey sneakers. There seemed to be two metal platings being held on a brown holster on his back.

The human girl stood at 5'6" with athletic build that had some noticeable curves and a C cup bust, She has a cream colored skin complexion, long straight forest green hair with a small wave to it. She wore it up in an semi rough ponytail with her bangs framing her face. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses. She wore a purple v neck shirt with an dark green jacket that reached her abdomen over the top. Her jacket had a white falling leaf design on the back and sleeves. A pair of black pants with brown knee high boots. Her emblem was a leaf split by a ripple. Her emblem had been engraved into an emerald pendant that hangs around her neck. On her back was a large sword in its sheath, most notably a nodachi.

These two were locally known as Jin Merlot Persian and Chloe Jasmine Parker. Both looked like students of Haven Academy, but they were just in Mistral so that they could enroll as first years. They had met when they were headed towards the academy, and immediately became friendly towards each other. Jin had noted that she always wore sunglasses, and Chloe noted that he was very popular with the ladies, immediately started teasing him about it.

"Names Jin," he had said with a friendly smile. "What's yours?"

"Cj," she replied, returning the smile.

They had decided to go grab a bite before they could head to the academy grounds and had been discussing a few things about each other when something caught their attention. Jin had rushed along with Chloe when they heard a commotion somewhere near by them as they ran towards the sound.

The faunus had skidded to a stop, putting his arm out to signal the girl to do the same. Once the pair had slowed down, they saw a girl about a couple of years younger than them throwing an adult male like he was a toy.

"Damn that girl's got an arm on her," Chloe said as she witnessed Reimei's throw of the thug.

Each of the thugs tried to come at her, but Reimei was quick to jump up and knock the larger of the three down. She grabbed the skinniest one and threw him into another stall. Rei heard the thug with the swollen cheek yell as he attempted to assault her once again, but she quickly nailed him in the gut before getting behind and twisting his arm.

People laughed when she twisted, causing him to spin around in circles before falling on his face.

"You're right, she does have good arm indeed, she is a good dancer in battle" Jin said as he saw how Reimei had moved around the three thugs laughing with the people by the man who fell on his face.

"Need a hand?" Chloe asked from the crowd to the younger girl.

"No thanks!" Reimei called back as she had the large one by the neck. "I've got it!" She picked him up with ease and threw him at the skinny one, crushing him in the process.

Jin could only watch at how effortlessly that the younger did what she did. "Damn... that was intense" he said. Chloe whistled in agreement.

The thugs groaned before they spotted the Headmistress Kaguya and the professors by her side.

"Uh guys, this is getting kinda serious," the large one said nervously as he and the skinny one got up.

The swollen-faced one gave a nervous look to the serious looking headmistress before he swiftly got up and started running. "Screw this! We're outta here!"

Professors Suzaku and Seiryu watched the thugs ran away. "Do we go after them?" Seiryu asked.

"No, those three belong to a certain someone," Kaguya said calmly. "I'm sure he'll deal with them." She turned to Reimei as the teen went over and helped the injured Faunus up.

Jin and Chloe walked up to the group where Reimei was standing "I just wanna say, that was awesome to watch!" She said as she could not contain her excitement.

Meanwhile, the wolf faunus was curious as to how she took down the thugs with ease. "You must have been trained by a few great teachers?" He said to her.

At the sudden praise, Reimei blushed, feeling rather bashful at this. "Umm yeah, but it's n-no big deal!" She said shyly, scratching her cheek. "The warriors taught me a lot..."

"Warriors? Don't you mean Huntsmen?" Jin replied to the blushing Reimei.

Chloe squeaked in the middle of the conversation "Are they super strong and talented like superheroes?" She asked the younger girl all too excitedly.

"Um, we don't have Huntsmen where I'm from," the silver eyed girl said to the wolf before looking to the older girl. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call them superheroes..."

"Awwww, they must be super cool then," the older girl replied back to Rei as she awed the silver eyed girl.

Jin chuckled at Chloe's antics. "Whoever they class themselves as, they did a fine job mentoring you," he added his compliments to Rei.

Reimei's blush grew darker as she fiddled with the loose strands of her hair shyly. "T-thanks..."

"It's true," the wolf said as the older girl beside him looked at the blushing Rei

"Are you okay, you seem a bit flustered?" Chloe asked her in concern.

"I-I'm just not used to being praised is all," the silver eyed girl said bashfully.

Jin couldn't help but grin at the cute display of bashfulness the younger girl had. He also couldn't help but find it very adorable, and he ruffled her hair. "Hey, don't worry, I used to get embarrassed all the time," he assured. "You'll get used to it."

Reimei responded by giving him an adorable smile.

 _'So adorable!'_ the older two screamed in their heads.

Kaguya took this as an opportunity to clear her throat in order to get the other three's attention, which it did. "I'm assuming that you two are new students of Haven?" she asked.

The older two gaped in awe. "Oh my gosh! Kaguya Sekai! In the flesh!" Chloe cheered.

Jin had to bite his tongue to contain his excitement before he spoke up "Yes, ma'am," he answered.

The headmistress nodded. "Very well then, let us be off," she said before turning and walking away with the two other professors beside her. Reimei was quick to follow the headmistress, and the older two soon followed after.

"So we never got to introduce ourselves," Jin said as they walked. "I'm Jin."

"Name's Cj," Chloe added with a grin.

"I'm Reimei," Reimei said with a smile, "but people call me Rei."

"Aw, that's a really pretty name," the older of the two girls said. "Who gave you that name? Your mom, or your dad?"

At this, the silver eyed girl grew silent and she looked to the ground, suddenly growing sad. Chloe immediately regretted asking that question and she turned to Jin for help, who had bitten his tongue when he saw the look on Rei's face. Luckily, the wolf was quick to change the subject.

"So um, where are you from, Rei?" he asked.

At this, Reimei immediately perked up and she smiled proudly. "Oniyuri!"

This caused the two to blink in surprise. Oniyuri? Why would someone from Oniyuri come to Mistral to become a huntress? Didn't they strive to become independent decades ago?

"We've arrived," Kaguya announced, interrupting their train of thought.

Reimei's eyes sparkled in awe as she took in the surroundings of Haven Academy. It was bigger than she imagined it! Kaguya couldn't help but chuckle at the silver eyed girl's excited expression. "The first years must head on to the grand hall," she informed. "It's straight to your left. If you'll excuse me…"

The new students watched as the headmistress left with the other two professors. Reimei was quick to follow the other two teenagers as they headed towards to ballroom.

"This place is so much bigger than I thought!" the silver eyed girl said excitedly as she looked around. "I mean, I've seen a few pictures in the books, but this is way too real!"

Chloe and Jin both chuckled at the childish excitement the younger girl displayed. It was completely adorable for Reimei to act this way.

"So, what's a girl from Oniyuri doing here in Haven Academy?" Jin asked curiously. "Isn't Oniyuri supposed to be independent or something?"

"We are, but Headmistress Kaguya offered me a place here in Haven so I could become a Huntress," Reimei explained.

Jin and Chloe were shocked. Nobody thought that the headmistress herself would recruit students on her own, much less someone from Oniyuri. How did she manage to get someone from Oniyuri, the exact village that wanted absolutely nothing to do with Mistral, to attend Haven? Well, she was the one who was able to bring Mistral back to its former glory four years ago. Perhaps she was able to put in enough encouragement in the girl in order to convince her to attend Haven Academy.

"You must be really special if she personally invited you herself then," Jin chuckled.

Reimei blushed from embarrassment and scratched her cheek a bit bashfully. "Um, I don't know about that," she said shyly.

Once they entered the grand hall, the silver eyed girl beamed in awe at the design. Chloe and Jin couldn't help but find her reactions to the small things cute. However, Reimei soon grew nervous at the many people that were gathered around and chatting amongst themselves. Chloe made Reimei feel a little better by giving her a light nudge with a grin. The younger girl smiled before becoming confused.

"Um, why are you wearing glasses inside?" she asked curiously.

"Because I'm too cool for this room," the older girl said, giving a cheeky grin.

Reimei covered her mouth to contain her laughter as Jin sweatdropped at what Chloe said, "Um, I don't think that's the correct response" he mumbled.

"Well, I'm too cool for correct responses anyway," Chloe said smugly.

Before the wolf faunus could say anything, everyone began to quiet down as the headmistress arrive on the altar with the rest of the staff on each of her side. Professors Seiryu and Suzaku were on her left, and two others were on her right, both being faunus and one being older than the other. Kaguya stood proudly up on the altar with her bamboo cane in her grasp as she looked down upon the new students.

"Welcome, young warriors, to Haven Academy" she begins. "You have all gathered here today because you have been chosen to hone your skills in order to become the next generation of huntsmen and huntresses."

Some of the new first years eagerly listened while others gave her skeptical looks. "Before your time here, Mistral had fallen into chaos after the disheartening betrayal of one Leonardo Lionheart, a huntsmen who once had the title of headmaster of Haven Academy. Because of his questionable alliance with the darkness, Mistral was deemed untrustworthy by all of the kingdoms of Remnant. Haven Academy was practically empty the past few decades because no one wanted to be branded a traitor to society.

"But in the past four years, we citizens of Mistral, as a whole, were able to find redemption by working hard to fight against the darkness, and are getting closer to bring Haven Academy's name from shattered pieces into a glorious sculpture once again."

"That's all thanks to Headmistress Kaguya," one student whispered.

"I know, she's so amazing!" another said.

"I still can't believe she's not even a huntress herself," another student said.

"So again, I welcome you all to Haven Academy," Kaguya continued. "May the fallen proudly smile down upon you and give you courage."

Once the welcoming speech was done, Suzaku stepped forward and cleared her throat. "All students must remain in the grand hall to sleep" she said. "Your orientation will begin in the morning. Do get some rest, you will all need it."

With that, everyone began to gather together in groups of friends who have already been acquainted with each other. Reimei looked around nervously until Jin pat her shoulder with a reassuring grin.

"Hey, let's go ahead and find a place for us to sleep," Jin said.

The silver eyed girl smiled and nodded in response.

* * *

As night had fallen upon the city of Mistral, those same thugs were running down in the alley. If anyone ever looked at their expressions, they would see that they were extremely terrified, which meant that they were running from something. Before they could go any further, a hand shot out from the shadows of a pathway in the alley and grabbed hold of the giant.

"Found nya~" a female voice called before pulling said man into the shadows, a scream could be heard then nothing.

The two remaining thugs fell to the ground and began to scoot away in fear when a faunus girl emerged from the shadows with a cat like grin on her face. She stood at 5'8" tall with alluring curves, long black hair with a slight wave to it and purple eyes. Her bangs framed the right side of her face, as the left side has been partially braided. She was a rather unique looking cat faunus, as she had both cat ears and a tail

For clothing, she wore a modified navy blue furisode styled kimono dress with swinging sleeves and a purple tribal pattern. The swinging sleeves were large enough to hide her hands, which if anyone ever dared look, was currently stained with blood. The bottom section of the furisode seemed to be designed to be more like a skirt than an traditional kimono allowing her to move freely while still having that elegant look. She wore pair of black gladiator sandals with the ribbons criss-crossing up to her calves.

The thugs seemed to know who she was as they squirmed under her gaze. However they held their breaths as they heard someone make a tsk-ing noise from behind them.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, how disappointing," a male voice said. "I gave you three one job. One simple job, and yet you all failed the job at hand because you all ran away from the sight of some huntsmen and huntresses, like some spineless rats you are."

They slowly turned to see a human male standing at 5'9" tall with a slim yet muscular build, having medium length silver hair that was slicked back and deep blue eyes that seemed to be giving the thugs beneath him poor judgement. For clothing, he wore a black ghost pinstripe suit jacket with a deep red formal shirt underneath and a black tie matching his jacket that hangs loosely around his neck, the top couple of buttons on his shirt being undone. He also wore a large black overcoat that rested over his shoulders and matching suit pants and black formal shoes.

From the way he seemed to carry himself, and the way the thugs squirmed in fear at the sight of his smile, this man appeared to be their boss.

"B-Boss!" The thug that caused the trouble yelled in panic. "W-We were in the middle of g-getting the job done, I swear! But a faunus punk got in the way, so we thought we'd teach him a lesson!"

"That wasn't what I told you to do now, was it?" their boss said, the frightening smile never leaving his face.

"I-I know, sir!" the thug replied in fear. "B-But that wasn't all! We didn't just run because that headmistress and her lackies were there! We got our asses handed to us by this kid! She was young! Red and blue hair! And-and-and she had silver eyes!"

This seemed to remove the smile on their boss' face as an expression of surprise seemed to take over. "Silver eyes…?" he mumbled. "Tell me more about this silver-eyed girl?"

The faunus girl seemed to blink in slight awe at how the boss' expression had changed so suddenly just by the news of a silver-eyed girl. It wasn't everyday that he would have that sort of expression when something piqued his interest.

"We don't know much, b-but rumor has that the headmistress found the kid and invited her to come to Haven Academy," the thug answered timidly. "That's all we got from the gossip people were spreading."

The silver haired man was silent for a few moments before turning away from them. "Thank you for the information, boys," he said. "You have been removed from your duties."

The thugs got scared for their lives after hearing that. "Boss, wait!? We won't mess up again! We swear!"

"Krystal, please take care of them," the boss said with indifference.

The faunus girl, Krystal, gave a grin. "Right on nya, Silver!" she giggled, locking her eyes on the thugs in front of her with blissful expression on her face as five curved metallic blades appeared from each of her sleeves.

The man, Silver, began to walk away as the thugs scooted back in fear of the faunus girl. "Silver eyes, huh," he mumbled to himself before his smile returned, not paying any mind to the horrific screams coming from the alley "This girl might prove to be very useful for what's to come…"


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: Tunnel Trial Part 1**_

 _"Dear Elder Nisshoku,_

 _How have you been? I hope everyone at home is doing okay. It feels really different to be away from everyone in Oniyuri, but I will probably have to get used to it. You'll never believe what has happened to me the past couple of days I've been gone!"_

Reimei yelps as she quickly grabs the ink bottle to prevent it from spilling after her elbow had accidently hit it. She checked to make sure no one else heard the noise, sighing in relief when she found that everyone was still asleep before smiling and continuing her letter.

 _"I saved a village from a bandit raid, and I met Kaguya Sekai! She's really pretty and kind, also very noble looking as well. Guess what? She offered me a chance to attend Haven Academy!"_

She frowned slightly at the words she chose. She knew Oniyuri became independent for a reason, and that Nisshoku probably wouldn't like hearing the news of his ward living in Mistral, but she couldn't just lie to him. Not wanting to delay any longer, and also afraid someone might wake up to the candle she had lit up, she continued writing.

 _"I know I shouldn't be associating myself with Mistral, but this is a really big opportunity for me. Not only will I represent our village, but I'll get the chance to become a huntress so that I can help make Oniyuri a kingdom. I don't want you to think that I'm betraying the village by doing this, but I promise you that I'm doing this for the best for everyone at home._

 _I hope you get this letter soon, and I hope to hear from you. Give my love and happiness to our people._

 _Love,_

 _Rei"_

Satisfied with what she wrote, Reimei smiled before folding up the letter and putting it in an envelope, putting away the ink bottle and quill, and then blowing out the candle.

* * *

Back up in the office of the headmistress, Kaguya was finishing up on some paperwork. A large pile was on the right of her as she wrote everything down. Another pile, much smaller than the one on her right, were documents on all of the students who had arrived, including Reimei Niijima. As engrossed as she was in her work, Kaguya heard the door open and close before she heard footsteps coming toward her and a voice she was all too familiar with spoke.

"Oh, Heavenly Blade, you are looking rather divine…"

"What do you want this time, Silver?" she asked bluntly without looking up at her visitor, nor minding the fact that her title "the Divine Blade" had been played with.

Silver anticipated that she knew he would be coming at such a late time, as well as her response. He didn't mind, he rather enjoyed it when she played hard to get.

"Naturally assuming that I want something from you, milady," he said in mock hurt, placing his hand over his heart. "How you wound me…"

"I'm a very busy woman, Silver," Kaguya stated, not once looking up from her paperwork to give him her attention as she continued to scribble down. "I don't have all night."

"Very well, I'll cut to the chase," he said, dropping the facade with a smile. "It's about one of your students."

"What about one of my students?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that a little birdy told me that rumor has it that you managed to find a silver eyed warrior and recruited her to be a student here in Haven Academy."

At this, Kaguya stopped writing down on the paperwork and set her pen down. If it had been anyone else, they probably would've been nervous. Kaguya Sekai, however, was the exact opposite. She was calm and collected, as needed for a headmistress, and she's known that this would be brought up eventually. Those thugs of Silver's would be made to talk, as expected, so of course Silver would come and ask her about Reimei.

"Why the sudden interest?" she asked.

"I'm just wondering on why you didn't tell me about her when you got back," Silver said casually. "We've been working together for four years now, dear Lady Kaguya, and not once have we ever kept any secrets from each other." It wasn't that they kept secrets from each other, they just minded their own business. "So tell me, did you have any intention of telling me about the silver eyed girl?"

There was a bit of silence on the headmistress' end before she picked her pen back up and got back to work. "No, I didn't," she stated.

"Oh, my beloved," Silver said dramatically, holding both of his hands to his heart. "You've wounded me once more. Do you not trust me?"

"No, I don't," Kaguya stated bluntly. "Because you and I both know that once you found out about her, you would want to use her as a weapon." She pointed to the large pile of paperwork. "Do me a favor and put those on the shelf over there. Inari will be off to deliver them in the morning."

The man chuckled at the order, but nonetheless obeyed as he took the large pile in his hands. "And what about you, Kaguya?" he asked casually as he put the pile on the empty space on bottom shelf beside some books. "What do you intend to do with the girl?"

"I don't intend to do anything," the headmistress said. "I invited her to Haven so that she can learn to harness her gift. She has great talent and a bright future. It would be a shame for it to go to waste."

"You promised her something, didn't you?"

Kaguya stopped writing again at that. Silver grinned and went over to the desk and got behind her before reaching over to the documents and took a hold of Reimei's student file. "Reimei Niijima," he read. "Sixteen years of age. Ah, her birthday was yesterday… Oniyuri? Kaguya, my dear, you didn't?" When he was met with silence, he chuckled and continued. "Born with silver eyes, but…" He scanned the next few words to see if he was reading right. "Not a single member in her family was born with it? Well, that's just not possible."

"You should know that nothing is impossible, Silver," the woman in front of him stated bluntly, not fazed by his new discovery.

"Don't you find it strange that her family has no history of having silver eyes?"

Silence fell between the two as he placed his hands on her shoulders and began to massage her. Normally, she would've smacked his hands away, but she was feeling rather tired and her shoulders had started to ache, so she allowed him to massage her. Silver knew this, and he wasted no time in taking advantage of the opportunity to touch her.

The silence continued as the man stopped massaging her shoulders to have one of his hands begin to play with her hair. "If that's the case, then may I present a request?" he asked.

"Depends on what it is," the headmistress answered without hesitation.

"Ever the quick one, aren't you?" Silver teased with a chuckle. "Alright… Remember that favor you said you would do for me?"

Kaguya remembered it all too well. She knew he would bring it up sooner or later, but she had hoped that he wouldn't call it in at this time. She didn't need to wonder why he would request that favor. Kaguya knew. This was about Reimei. If this mob boss thought he could request to take Reimei under his wing, he'll have to get through her blade first. And everyone knows never to test the Divine Blade.

"Well, I guess you don't need to answer that question," the man laughed. "My favor is… Let my Sword attend Haven Academy."

Kaguya shifted to turn a weary gaze towards Silver. "Why?" she demanded.

"Kaguya, you and I both know that a silver eyed warrior hasn't been seen in Mistral for a century," Silver said. "Word has already gotten out in the city. If the whole kingdom finds out, word will surely get to the underground…" He frowns. "And if that happens, that girl will become a target." He trailed his free hand down Kaguya's arm to place it on her left hand. "Your huntsmen and huntresses won't be enough to protect Reimei Niijima. She's going to need more protection than you can possibly give."

Now Kaguya was not a prideful woman, by any means, but she had to admit that she strongly disliked the fact that Silver was right, as much as she hated to admit it. Even with the professors at her aid, there was still a strong chance that Reimei Niijima would become a potential target, and the underworld will go to great lengths to get their hands on her.

She finally sighed in defeat. "Very well, but if she causes any trouble here, I will throw her out," she said. "Is that clear?"

Silver grinned and brought her hand up to kiss her knuckles. "Crystal clear~"

* * *

Morning had soon come, and the first years were following behind a white tiger faunus to the mountains outside of both the city and the school.

"Now, for your orientation," Professor Byakko, the white tiger faunus, explained, "each of you will be selected at random to go through a tunnel in the mountain. Whoever gets out the fastest has the top score in your year."

"Excuse me," a very unique looking faunus with large wings asked, raising his hand. "Is this a time limit sort of deal? Or…?"

"It's not a time limit, per say," Byakko explained. "This simply tests out how long it takes each of you to finish the tunnel. Whoever has the fastest time is the top score."

Reimei gave a hum. She had her natural speed, so perhaps if she timed it wisely, she'll be able to see if she gets a high score. Jin gave her a soft nudge as everyone arrived at a large mountain with a cave hole on the side.

"Now then, the headmistress has installed a machine at the end of the tunnel on the other side of the mountain," the white tiger faunus explained. "Once the machine beeps, it will indicate that your run has come to an end and it will show how long it took you to find a way out. At the other side, you will meet up with Professor Genbu, who will be waiting to see who comes out of the tunnel. Any questions?"

Chloe raised her hand. "Will we run into any Grimm?" she asked.

"Yes, you will," Byakko answered. "You will be running into Grimm as you run through the tunnels. However, no one knows the specific number of Grimm you will see." He looks at everyone to see if there were anymore questions, but found none. "Alright, first one up is Eve Geist."

At this call a young, slim girl stepped forward to the tunnel hole. Reimei noticed that she had long navy blue hair that reached mid waist with her bangs covering her forehead, tanned complexion, navy blue eyes, and a rather neutral expression. Her clothing consisted of a white shirt that bore her midriff with the long sleeves being baggy and covering her hands, a navy blue under shirt, black pants, and grey boots that reached up to her calf. She seemed to be small in terms of 'assets', but Reimei could tell that the neutral girl, Eve she presumed, didn't pay any mind to the comments of the males among the students.

Eve gave the hole a hard look before closing her eyes. Within her mind, she began her calculations on the patterns of the tunnel, as well as calculating the amount of Grimm there would be inside. At least twelve or fourteen will be inside of it. Once that task was done, she opened her eyes again.

"Ready?" Byakko asked, receiving a nod in return. "Start!"

Eve exposed her hands and slammed them down on the ground, causing a strong force of electricity to emerge from the palm of her hands. People watched in awe as she floated into the air before taking off into the tunnel. She used the pattern she saved in her data as to go through the tunnel, electrocuting Grimm as she passed them in a speed of light. As she noticed that she was nearing the end, she stopped using the lightning dust before switching to the gravity dust in her arms to slow herself down. Eve then lowered to the ground and ran out of the exit of the tunnel.

She heard a beeping noise and looked to the machine.

 _5 minutes_

"Well, look at that," an elderly man with a turtle shell on his back and wearing black robes said with a smile. "Seems like we'll already have a top score this early in the day."

Eve regarded him with a nod before going to stand beside him. From the looks of it, the old man was a turtle faunus, and she had to assume that this was Professor Genbu. Genbu gave a smile as he typed down Eve's score to send it to Byakko. The white tiger faunus gave a hum when he saw the message.

"Five minutes."

"Five minutes!?" a lot of the students shouted in shock and amazement.

"Man, there's no way anybody can beat that score," a girl with spiky white hair groaned.

"That's hell'a impressive," Chloe said, whistling a bit.

"I'll say," Jin agreed.

Reimei's eyes sparkled in childish awe and grinned. "Let's all do our best to beat that score!" she cheered, throwing her fists to the air.

"Yeah!" Chloe said, sharing Reimei's enthusiasm, causing Jin to chuckle.

"Jin Merlot Persian," Byakko called, gaining Jin's attention. "You're next."

The wolf took a deep breath as he approached the tunnel, rolling his shoulders a bit to warm himself up. "Here goes nothing," he mumbled.

"Ready?" Byakko asked, receiving a nod. "Go!"

With that, Jin took off, though not as fast as Eve had. As he ran through the tunnel, he noticed that there were lanterns on the walls to ensure that his field of vision wouldn't fade into the darkness, which he thought was oddly nice of them. He came to a stop as he saw three tunnels on the right, middle and left.

"Ah crap, which way do I go," he mumbled to himself as he looked them over. After doing some hard thinking, he decided to take the left tunnel.

As he ran, he noticed at least two Beowolves on the ground and shaking, probably from being electrocuted by Eve when she first went through here.

"Well, this'll be easier than I thou-"

He was cut off when an Ursa smacked him into the wall. Jin yelped at the hard impact as he fell to his knees. "Well, spoke too soon," he grunted, one eye open as he looked at the Ursa coming toward him. "Guess some of them were smart enough to hide."

He took his boomerangs out of their holsters and threw one at the Ursa, who deflected it. The wolf gave a grin as his hand glowed black and then the boomerang swiftly came back and decapitated the beast. Jin made his weapon come back to his hand before he continued running.

Though the lanterns gave a rather dull lighting, it was still enough for him since he could easily see in the dark to spot three more Grimm up ahead, all being Beowolves. He gave another grin before he threw both of his boomerangs and managed to decapitate one while only cutting off an arm and leg for the other two. Rather than fight them off, quickly managed to dodge them before continuing on.

"Man, how many Grimm are in this place," he mumbled to himself as he ran. He soon spotted a few Ursas and Creeps up ahead. "Aw crap…"

* * *

Genbu and Eve waited on the other side of the mountain before they perked up at the sight of an exhausted Jin jogging out of the cave, the timer going off.

"Thirty minutes," the old turtle said with a smile. "Well done, Mr. Persian."

"Aw man, I wasn't even remotely close," Jin sighed before grinning at Eve. "It's gonna be awhile until someone beats your score, huh?"

The girl simply gave a nod in response with her neutral expression before looking back into the tunnel.

"Okay, next is Jay Oriole," Byakko said when he got the message from Genbu.

A boy with dark blue hair, short on the sides of his head but slightly longer at the top, neatly brushed to the left and pale skin tone, walked up to the tunnel and waited for the signal. When Byakko gave the signal, he immediately sprinted forward. Thanks to his build being like that of a runner despite his height of six feet, he was able to go at least 15 mph, making him turn left when he reached a wall and then continued forward and then making a right.

Jay had went through the center tunnel and looked around with critical bright blue eyes before he spotted a few Ursas up ahead. He got his shield and threw it like a frisbee, knocking the Uras back and his weapon returning to him as he kept running past them.

"Seems like Mistral took the time to really build this tunnel," he said to himself. He tripped on his feet as he didn't notice the hill ahead of him and slid down, getting dirt on both his blue and white sneakers and dark gray pants. He cursed himself for not seeing it coming and regained his composure as he used his shield like a surfboard as he slid down the ground. "Guess the staff really is unpredictable."

He hopped off of his shield, flinging it in the air in the process, as he finally made it to the bottom. Jay gaped when he saw a hole at the bottom, but was caught off guard when a large gust of wind blew him up. He grabbed his shield to make sure he didn't lose it, along with his dark gray jacket, before the winds stopped and he was on the flat surface again. "Yep, unpredictable," he grumbled before going forward making a right, left and then another right before he was going straight forward again.

He perked up when he saw the light not too far ahead and made himself run a little bit faster. As he made it pass the machine, it beeped and showed his time.

"Twenty-four minutes," Genbu said, smiling. "Well done, Mr. Ciel."

"Wow, that's way better than my score," Jin said, smiling.

Jay shrugged before standing beside the Eve and the wolf faunus. "Of course, I would've done better if the staff wasn't unpredictable with the tunnel," he said.

"The staff isn't obligated to make it easy for us," the navy blue haired girl said bluntly. "I figured someone like you would've known that by now."

The boy gave her a glare, and the wolf decided to step in. "Hey, easy now," Jin said, raising his hands up. "Let's not get into a fight."

Eve merely looked on with indifference while Jay's glare only softened a bit.

* * *

"Chloe Jasmine Parker," Byakko called after three more people had already gone. "You're up."

"Well, wish me luck," Chloe said, patting Reimei on her head before going over to the tunnel.

"Miss Parker, why are you going in with those glasses?" the white tiger faunus asked, eyebrow raised.

"Because I'm gonna be too cool for this tunnel," the girl said with a smirk.

People groaned at the really bad joke before Byakko signaled Chloe to go.

Reimei was getting a bit antsy as she waited for her turn. Before she could blink, a strange cat faunus got in her face.

"Nya, what a cute little kitten~" the faunus complimented. "What name should I call nya~?"

The silver eyed girl was a bit surprised at the use of "nya", but she smiled brightly. "I'm Reimei," she greeted. "But people call me Rei!"

The cat faunus stared long and hard at the girl before thinking in her head. _'So this is the silver eyed kid, huh?'_ she thought to herself. _'Well, well, this will be an interesting assignment~'_

"Nya have some pretty lookin' eyes there, nya~" she cooed.

Reimei blushed at the compliment before covering her eyes. "Ah, thanks, I don't know how I got them because honestly, nobody in my family have this sort of color," she explained. "What about you? What's your na-" When she removed her hand from her eyes to look at the cat faunus, said faunus was nowhere to be seen. The silver eyed girl blinked in confusion as she looked around. "Huh…?" Seeing as she couldn't find the cat faunus anywhere, she sighed before going back to watching the next person go to the tunnel.

After Chloe was done within 23 minutes, there came a girl with golden orange hair in slight waves barely reaching her shoulders. Rei wondered why a girl would be wearing a high waisted white and black striped skirt to an academy like Haven, but she's heard of huntresses who were known for having battle skirts, so she had to assume that was what it was. From her observation, she wore a golden orange top which glittered a bit. The silver eyed girl had to assume that it was dust sewn into the top. On her feet were short black and white heels, making Reimei assume that the girl was short in terms of height without the shoes.

"Alright, Oriole Ciel," Byakko said. "Are you ready?"

"Yessir!" the girl, Oriole, responded.

"Okay. Ready. Set. Go!"

Reimei watched as Oriole ran into the tunnel. "Her name's Ciel too?" she mumbled to herself. "Her and that Jay person must be relatives..."

"You think so?"

Reimei turned to the source of the new voice and found herself face to face with another faunus. This time it was a very tall male with black hair reaching mid back and tied up in a french braid, tanned complexion, and the faunus trait was… Well, it made Reimei's eyes sparkle in awe. They were scaly black. Just like…

"Are those dragon wings!?" she asked in excitement, catching the faunus boy off guard.

"U-um, yeah," he said. "My name's Drake. Drake Noir." He rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. "You… You're the first person to not get scared of my wings…"

"Why would I be scared?" Reimei asked, smiling brightly. "They're so cool! I've never seen a dragon faunus before! Is that what you really are!?"

Drake chuckled at the younger girl's enthusiasm. "Yeah, I'm a dragon faunus alright," he said. "Rarest breed…"

"That's so cool!" the silver eyed girl said, holding her hand out. "I'm Reimei Niijima, but people call me Rei!"

The dragon took her hand and he noticed that she had a firm grip on her. "Nice to meet you," he said as they shook hands. "Nice grip."

Reimei blushed a bit, and rubbed the back of her head with a bashful expression. "Ah yeah, um, I did a lot of hard labor and training back home," she said nervously.

"Well, hey, it's good practice for fighting," Drake chuckled and ruffled her hair a bit. "You look a little young… How old are you?"

"I just turned sixteen a couple days ago!"

Drake, and the people who were close enough to hear, gawked at the younger girl.

"Wait, sixteen!? How did you even get in!?"

"Headmistress Kaguya invited me," the silver eyed girl said, frowning. "Is that… bad?"

"No! Not at all!" the dragon faunus assured. "It's just really rare for younger trainees to get into a prestigious school is all…"

"What about him?" Reimei asked, pointing at a boy with black hair in a crew cut. "He looks like he could be my age."

Drake blinked at that. "Huh… I didn't even notice him," he mumbled to himself before looking back at the younger girl. "So the headmistress recruited you huh?"

"Yep! She thinks I have potential and wants me to train to become a huntress!" the blue and red haired girl said with a smile. "And once I'm a huntress, my village will finally become a kingdom!"

"Where are you from?"

"Oniyuri!"

The dragon faunus smiled at that. "Well, good luck on your journey!"

"Thanks!"

* * *

Oriole ran out of the tunnel as she panted lightly. She looked at the beeping machine and it read 25 minutes. "Hey, Jay, how long did it take you?" she asked Jay.

From the looks of it, the two looked nearly identical. Jay went over to the girl and patted her back. "It took me 24 minutes to finish," he said. "You'll have to do more to catch up."

"Ah, that's okay, big brother!" Oriole said with a smile. "I like doing the work!"

Jay chuckled at his sister before she stood beside him.

Genbu simply smiled on as the trial continued. "This year's first years are going to be very interesting," he said to himself.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: Tunnel Trial Part 2**_

During the tunnel trial, a young woman walked down the hall, dragging the skirt of her white yukata along the floor, the sleeves barely held on her arms. The top of her yukata exposed her shoulders and a bit of cleavage to accentuate the large… ahem, assets. Her white hair draped over her shoulders with the red tips swaying with every step she took.

The top layers on the side of her head were shaped like ears drooping down, but her most unique feature was the large white fox tail wagging around, the tip also the color red. From anyone's view, one could easily tell that this woman was a fox faunus.

Her golden eyes lit up at the sight of the headmistress' office door before she eagerly bounced over to it. She gave a few soft knocks before entering the office.

"I'm here, Lady Kaguya!" She sang.

Kaguya looked up from her work and grinned. "Ah, Inari, perfect timing," she said. "The paperwork is ready to be delivered."

The fox faunus, Inari, nodded in response before going over and getting the large stack of papers into her arms. Before she took a step toward the door, she turned to the headmistress with a look of concern.

"Lady Kaguya," Inari said. "About Silver… you really think it's a good idea to allow his Sword to enter Haven as a student? What if she causes trouble?"

The purple haired woman sighed at this and leaned back in her chair. "As much as I dislike the thought of her coming here, Silver brought up a valid point," she admitted. "The underground will find out about Miss Niijima soon enough. Even with the academy staff, and the huntsman and huntresses in the city, the underworld will go to great lengths to get their hands on her. That, and I also promised him that favor. I needed to honor that."

Inari grimaced at that. She really wished that Lady Kaguya hadn't promised that mob boss anything, but it was a way of repaying him for the… assistance he has provided when she first became the headmistress. The fox woman had been one of the few to witness the event. Before she could voice her opinion on the matter, both women turned to see an explosion at the mountain where the trial was taking place.

The fox faunus sighed. "It seems that one of the more… 'energetic' students is having a little too much fun," she mumbled.

Kaguya simply gave an amused chuckle. "In time, he'll learn to discipline himself," she said. "Besides, I may have a plan set in mind for that."

"If you say so, Lady Kaguya…"

* * *

Back in the tunnel, a young man around the age of sixteen with crew cut black hair went down the right tunnel. His yellow eyes, seeming to have no life in them, look around for any sign of Grimm that he might end up passing by. His black shitagi moved with his legs as well as the black sleeves of his white Haori moved with his arms, although the haori had black sleeves with an impression of having grey stripes.

The young man had barely dodged a claw coming at his head, which probably would've added another scar next to the scar shaped like an 'x' on his face. He grit his teeth in response and grabbed hold of the hilt of his weapon.

"Let's end this fast!" He said before slicing the head of the Beowulf closest to him with a blank katana. He then twisted the hilt into a full 360 degrees, causing the lightning dust within it to activate and turn the black blade yellow. He then swung the katana again, causing lightning to emerge and make the killing blow for the rest of the pack. When he had safely exited the tunnel, he had finished by thirty-seven minutes.

"Well done, Mister Kurogane," Genbu said with a smile. "Go ahead and wait with everyone else."

The boy, Raijin Kurogane, sighed to himself in slight disappointment before standing next to a girl with long, white, spiky hair that reached her shoulders, a black leather jacket with the sleeves ripped off, a yellow tank top, and ripped jeans.

"Hey, that was pretty good!" The girl said, slapping him on the back.

Raijin grimaced a bit before looking up at the girl. A closer inspection allowed him to see that she had blue eyes and a slightly tanned skin. She lacked a bit in the… chest area, but the lower half was a little more noticeable.

"Thanks… Umm…" he didn't know what to say.

"The name's Star," she replied with a grin. "Star Alvise."

"Raijin Kurogane, but you can call me Kuro," he replied. "How long did it take for you in the tunnel?"

"Thirty-nine minutes," Star groaned. "That's lower than that stoic looking girl!"

"You mean Eve?" Raijin asked.

"Yeah! Did you see the way she just zipped into the tunnel like that!? It looked like she wasted the whole tunnel run!"

Listening in on their conversation was a girl in a jet black bodysuit, seeming to be made out of a light fabric, wearing steel plating over it on her inner thighs, over her chest, and a bit of her shoulders. She wore black combat boots during along with the outfit, and had steel gauntlets on her wrists for the finishing touch.

Her almond shaped jade eyes narrowed at the two conversing students before shifting to Eve. ' _Looks like I have someone I need to beat to the top,'_ she thought to herself, running her olive skinned fingers through her wavy, chestnut hair.

Everyone's attention soon turned to the tunnel to see who would be the next person to come out. It was the unique cat faunus with 2 animal traits, a tail and a pair of cat ears that appeared. With a playful step in her stride, her tail swung from side to side in rhythm to her oversized sleeves. She had a slight bored expression on her face with no signs being out of breath, which was strange as the majority of students who had exited the tunnel looked like they were about to kneel over and pass out from fatigue.

When she saw Professor Genbu having a look at her result, a smug grin appeared on her face. The way the faunus walked after leaving the tunnel, he could tell that she could have set a better time if she decided to try. "Nineteen minutes," Genbu said with a smile as the cat faunus walked closer "Well done, Miss Raynes."

"Thank nya, professor~" the girl giggled before strutting her way to the crowd.

Chloe watched the cat faunus in surprise as Genbu said her time out load besides Eve's time, the next fastest time was held by Chloe with twenty-three minutes. Somehow the cat faunus managed to easily beat that time with little effort. Jay gave a narrowed glare to the cat faunus who stood to the side with that proudful smile of hers. She could feel someone eyes on her, but she simply ignored it as the next person to leave the tunnel grabbed everyone's attention.

A young man with lean, slender and elegant build who stood 6'1" tall appeared. Dressed in black jacket with an upturned collar and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black jeans, a dark violet belt around his waist and dark grey calf-high boots. Also there some black pouches connected to two smaller violet belts wrapped around his right thigh.

The young man brushed his shoulder length violet locks back, leaving his hair in a wild and unkempt state as he regained his composure from the ordeal that is the tunnel run. His green eyes spotted the professor waving him over to tell him his score. As he waited, he slightly adjusted the violet cloth wrappings on his hands and forearms. Genbu noticing the eagerness in the young boy's eyes, smiled, "You were close to Miss Raynes score," Genbu said. "Well done, Mr. Kurotori".

The young man nodded before going over to stand beside Eve.

"Dude, what the heck!" Star whined.

"He was pretty good though," Raijin agreed with slight envy.

"The both of them are pretty good," Chloe said.

"I wonder when Reimei will be next," Jin hummed.

* * *

Meanwhile, the silver eyed girl was getting a bit antsy as the next person who went into the tunnel was a young man who dressed like a monk. Drake noticed this and offered a smile.

"Feeling nervous?" He asked.

"Kinda," Reimei responded sheepishly. "I just want it to be my turn already, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. Just relax, okay? Your turn will come soon enough."

"Drake Noir!" Byakko called. "You're up!"

"Welp, wish me luck!" The dragon faunus said before heading to the cave entrance.

Reimei watched in awe as he flapped his wings to build speed until he flew into the cave. "So cool!"

Byakko couldn't help but grin. ' _I can sense that she's got some pent up energy,'_ he thought, ' _but she's staying put and waiting as patiently as she can. Lady Kaguya sure knows how to pick 'em.'_

The silver eyed girl bit her lip as the next one to go was a gray haired young man. Then after a couple more students, there was a redhead that went inside next. She shifted from one foot to another, feeling herself getting more antsy the longer she waited. So in order to distract herself, she started to think of the year before her sixteenth birthday.

 _The fifteen year-old Reimei panted as she leaned onto her knees after another intense training session with one of the village warriors._

" _Now, Reimei, reach deep into your heart, and grasp the light," he said seriously._

 _She doubted it would work, but the silver eyed girl did as instructed and closed her eyes, reaching deep into her heart in search of the light that always escaped. She lingered for a long time before she spotted the light flying towards her. She made to grab it, believing that she could finally catch it after so many years. But when she closed her fingers into a fist, the light had already escaped._

 _Out of pure frustration, Reimei slammed her hands onto the floor and bowed. "I'm sorry, Master!" She said. "I can't! I just can't catch it!"_

 _Her teacher only looked down at his student, sensing her frustration in the way she was bowing down before him. He simply knelt down and placed a hand on her head._

" _You can't lose hope, Reimei," he said. "Maybe today was not the day to have the light in your hands, but you will catch it in due time."_

" _But what if I never catch it?" She asked as she looked up at her teacher. "What if I never catch the light?"_

" _You will. Just look deep into your heart, and you will catch it."_

"Reimei Niijima!"

The call of her name snapped the dual colored haired girl out of her thoughts and she looked to Professor Byakko.

"You're the last one," he informed. "Be sure to make this count."

Reimei nodded in understanding before walking over to the entrance of the cave. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, clutching her sheathed katanas as she did so. After a few more breaths, she briefly heard the words of the white tiger faunus…

"Go!"

She sprinted off at a blazing speed, which seem to match the pace that Eve set. As she reached the point where the path splits into three separate tunnels, Reimei glanced around before deciding on the tunnel to the left. As she went down that tunnel, she could see several pairs of red eyes clearly in front of her despite the tunnel being poorly lit by the lanterns that hung on the wall.

As she got closer, those eyes she saw belonged to a pack of Beowolves. Reimei instinctively reached for the pair of katanas that where rattling against her left hip. As she gripped the hilt of one of her weapons, one of Beowolves closest to her lashed out with its claws. However with a blinding speed, Reimei drew her weapon and sliced off it's hand with a single motion.

The creature roared in pain before being swiftly decapitated by a return strike from the same blade. Reimei jumped over the fallen and switched her sword into her left hand, before reaching for the empty sheath on her left that had the same blue color as the sword she held and a shotgun in its design. She drew the sheath and fired round containing fire dust which vaporized the majority of pack due to narrow spacing of the tunnel keeping the Beowolves tightly packed. The ones that survived were quickly dealt with by another swift strike, which allowed her to continue moving forward.

As the tunnel widened, Reimei resheathed her weapon however she could faintly hear more growls to the left of her, which caused her heart to beat loudly. However it didn't sound like a normal heartbeat, it was more like a church bell ringing. It was a recognizable sound that came from deep within her heart, and it was enough to cause her to stop. Reimei could faintly see the light coming towards her at light speed. She didn't even think twice to reach out, wondering and hoping that she would be able to grab the light this time.

Reimei wasn't sure why the light decided to show up now, in the middle of the run, but she couldn't let this opportunity slip. She watched as the light began to get closer, and kept her hand outstretched so that it wouldn't slip from her grasp.

She'll be damned if she allowed the light to slip passed her again.

"I'm going to catch it this time for sure!"

Reimei's silver eyes lit up as she saw it getting closer. "Come on… a little closer…" Her hand shook as it was getting tired from being held up for so long, but she kept it up and ignored the growing ache. "Almost there…"

When it finally reached her, she closed her hand into a tight fist…

Only to see that she had failed once again to grab the light, filling her heart with dread. While she had been distracted with the light, an Ursa spotted her and took advantage of her being distracted to lunged at her. When she returned to reality, her eyes widened in shock as she didn't even have the time to move. When the Grimm got close enough to attack her, it stopped with a grunt, the Grimm's teeth were only a few inches away from Reimei's throat.

Her eyes widened even more and she looked down to see a metal claw sticking out of its chest before being removed as the creature faded away into nothing. Reimei stood still in stunned silence as the black mist vanished to revealing a Faunus girl, the one she had conversed with earlier.

Instead of saying anything, the girl only gave a playful smile before stepping back into the shadows, leaving Reimei to gape in confusion.


End file.
